Sin & Salvation (Demigod of San Francisco #3)(93)

“We’re going shopping,” Mordecai said with a grin.

He and Daisy had gotten the week off, too. Mordecai because he’d taken some hard hits in the battle, ending up with a broken bone and few torn muscles, and then received my wrath for putting himself in danger. He wasn’t allowed to leave my sight.

Daisy because she was grounded for going behind everyone’s back, contacting Sydney with some damning secrets (my magic being one of them, Kieran’s plans another), and then arranged for Dara to come without telling Kieran. If Dara hadn’t contacted Kieran herself, the whole thing might’ve gone nowhere. Daisy had only gotten a week of punishment and a very soft chewing out by Kieran (or so the guys claimed—it had seemed pretty harsh to me with all of his magic being thrown around) because she’d saved the day.

“Rover!” A thunk and a grunt said Daisy had kicked him under the table. “That was supposed to be a surprise!”

“I’m not going shopping,” I said, grabbing juice out of the fridge. “My dream stores have crap in them. It’s no fun anymore.”

“Yes, you are going shopping.” Thane slid off the stool with a wince and gingerly walked to the sink. He was still stiff. “There is one kitchen worth of utensils and gadgets spread between two houses, and it is annoying as all hell to cook.”

“You’re going shopping.” Bria nodded solemnly. “Don’t piss off the cooks.”

“Are you seeing your people today?” I asked Mordecai. One day I hoped I could ask that question without sounding—or feeling—wary. They hadn’t just joined the fight to help Kieran or me (he’d forwarded them a copy of the video of my showdown with Will Green), they’d also gone because Ray and Moesha’s little boy was still alive. To them, he was still a member of the pack, and they’d wanted to help their own. His battle was their battle.

I was terrified he’d leave me for them, I had to admit, and even more afraid I wouldn’t be able to fake being happy for him. Daisy said I didn’t have to worry, but she did denial like no one else I knew.

“When is this shopping thing happening?” Bria pointed at Mordecai.

“You weren’t in on this surprise?” I asked her.

She frowned. “They won’t tell me anything anymore because one time I let it slip that Donovan was seeing two girls at once.”

“Yeah, because you let it slip to one of the girls,” Thane said. “Get a clue.”

“Get some morals,” she retorted.

“They weren’t official. No one said anything about exclusivity,” Daisy said, and took another bite of her breakfast.

“What do you know about dating rules?” Bria rolled her eyes.

“It’s not very respectful to the women,” Mordecai chimed in. “They aren’t like ice cream. He has to pick a flavor.”

“Not if they agree to be a double scoop to his cone.” Thane fluttered his eyebrows suggestively.

“All right, all right, enough. Kids present.” I frowned at Thane. He laughed and washed his plate.

“I’m never going to be tied down,” Daisy said.

“That’s because no one will have you,” Bria replied.

Mordecai nodded thoughtfully. Daisy kicked him again. “Really, Mordie? You’re going to agree with that?”

He shrugged. “You are a little terrifying. I doubt many men will be confident enough to think they’d survive one of your bad moods.”

“He’s too damn sensible for his own good.” Bria shook her head. “Well, anyway, I’m going to go shower. Let me know when it’s time to go shopping.”

“You’re not invited, I don’t think,” Daisy said as Bria walked out of the kitchen.

“Like hell I’m not,” she called back.

It turned out, she wasn’t. It would just be me.

Later that afternoon, I stepped out of the house in designer attire and my makeup and hair done. Mordecai had insisted that I should look nice, and Daisy had then picked out my clothes, because she didn’t trust my sense of style (I wasn’t complaining). A badly decomposing corpse sat off to the side, still filled with one of the nutters from the ghost house. He didn’t want to leave the body, and because he’d helped out, I didn’t want to make him. Still, it was getting a little gross.

The rest of the spirits had waited for the magical zone burial of Demigod Valens, held on day three after his demise, as a kind of celebration before moving on. They’d gone on their way, roaming to other places, or finally drifting across the Line. John had thanked me and said to call him back should we ever need anything. I got the feeling he wanted to go looking for Valens on the other side.

He’d never find him.

The strange presence without a real body or spirit form had shown me how to disintegrate a spirit by demonstrating on Valens. Clearly the…thing—being?—hadn’t trusted me to get it right the first time around. At this point, I was pretty sure the grump in the strange plane wasn’t actually my subconscious, though that left me with no idea who, or what, it was. Regardless, it was clear that even people in the spirit realm wanted Valens completely gone.

I couldn’t say I blamed them.

“Well, don’t you look nice,” Frank said.

Frank had figured out a way to make this his new home. Apparently, this spirit wasn’t attached to places, anymore, he was attached to people. Namely, me. Just my luck.